The Meaning of Life in Dharamsala

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Something was still bugging me, so I asked Karol, an American who has lived in Dharamsala and studied Buddhism for the past eight years. How can we look as an example to Tibetan Buddhism, with its emphasis on kindness, compassion and goodwill to all living things, when Tibet is arguably one of the most defeated nations on the planet? The answer, she replied, is karma. How many people would know or care about Tibet if the Dalai Lama had not been forced into exile? Would the message of Tibetan Buddhism have been sounded so emphatically around the world? Tibet may be a popular cause for modern beatniks to rally around, but perhaps its commitment to positive energy, peace and compassion is its true gift to the West.

If you had joined me at a Buddhist class here in Dharamsala, this is what you would have seen. Several dozen westerners in a room, seated on thin cushions, dressed in anything from cotton hippie-yoga threads to blankets to red robes to jeans and sweaters (me). In front of us, a guy wears a T-shirt that states, in a white, bold font: The True Meaning of Life.

“If you dedicate yourself to other people’s happiness, you will find the true meaning of life”
The Dalai Lama.

There it is, on a T-shirt. And I thought it was the number 42! A big picture of the Dalai Lama is located in the center of the room, above the seat of the teacher, an elderly, huskily voiced and revered Geshe. To his left is an English translator. The class begins with mantra chants. The theme today is the importance of positive thought. The Geshe, or teacher, speaks, the translator, an English women with intense eyes, translates. Remain calm, avoid getting upset, be patient. In my head, I hear Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry be Happy.” Unhappiness fuels anger, and anger hurts us. Our energy should be spent solving the causes of our anger, not being angry itself. Some people are nodding their heads, while a girl next to me is doodling mandalas in her notebook. Even when we suffer, we do it so others don’t have to. For if it were not us, it would be someone else, so our own suffering is a form of compassion. He concludes: Radical changes in your own thinking can have radical changes in the world around you. With his hands clasped in a strange gesture, chanting resumes, and then the Geshe leaves the room. I feel positive, reaffirmed. Certainly better than anything I learnt in high school. The following day, class resumes on the disturbing realms of hell. Not my cup of tea. Let’s go for a walk along the Lingkhor instead, and stare at the beautiful birds in the valley below.

Lest we forget that this is India, the Hindu festival of Dusehra took place on a cricket pitch in lower Dharamsala. Thousands of Indians had flocked to the field (the women in their most splendid saris) to watch three enormous effigies get torched to the ground. The effigies symbolize bad luck, evil, and all the negativity of the previous year, and their fiery destruction is a means to purge all this, and also, blow stuff up. The huge fireworks that followed were impressive, even more so as none of it was automated, and the fuses were lit by guys randomly running around with lighters. The snow on the mountains reflected every time a bright red star exploded in the sky. Men would shake my hand and beautiful young girls would steal looks in my direction and sell them on the black-market, (located near Mount Olympus Bar and Grill.) I remember what an English traveller told me in Delhi. “No matter what you’ve read, seen or heard about India, wherever you go, it is nothing at all like what you expect.”

Shivalik Hotel
Macleodganj, Dharamsala

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